A blog dedicated to the discussion of topics relating to the history of Sandusky and Erie County, Ohio; inspired by the collections of the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center and Follett House Museum. A service of the Sandusky Library.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Miss Jessie Hornig, Teacher and Businesswoman

Jessie Hornig was born in Ohio about 1875 to Alexander and Nettie
(Brost) Hornig. Both Jessie’s father and her maternal grandfather, J.V. Brost,
were in the marble works business in Sandusky
in the late 1800s. From 1897 until her retirement in 1937, Miss Jessie Hornig
was a teacher in the Sandusky Schools. In the 1920s, Jessie Hornig also served
on the Board of Directors of the Hornig Electric Company, a family run
business. Her brother J. Frank Hornig was president of the Hornig Electric
Company. Pictured below is an advertisement for the Hornig Electric Company
from the Sandusky Register of July
21, 1921. The company brought in specially trained demonstrators who were
experts in the use of Westinghouse household appliances. The experts were ready
to call on every woman whose home was wired for electricity in the summer of
1921, to demonstrate how the electrical appliances worked.

On January 28, 1951, Jessie Hornig passed away at
her home on Columbus Avenue,
after an extended illness. Funeral services for Miss Hornig were held at her
Hornig residence, with Rev. Robert F.R. Peters officiating. Burial was in OaklandCemetery.